Here are some photos of the OY the day I first saw it in 1996/7. The farmer told me it was either 1942 or 1943.

Attachment 82500

I was far more interested in what was hiding up in the stack of old rain water tanks at the top of the hill, seen here top left in the back ground. It was the remains of a Canadian Scout Car Ford Lynx Mk.III*.

Attachment 82501 Attachment 82502

Anyway we recovered the old girl and as I said, passed it on to Tony L. in SA. who passed it on to Richmond G. and then it went on to Matt L.

Regards Rick.

Hello Rick & Matt,

Thanks for posting the photographs of Matt's Bedford. I was thinking that the vehicle would be a cab-over variety the QL. Gee Bedford did not exercise their design crew very much from the OY model to come up with the shape of the "TJ" Series Bedfords did they!

I used to be in charge of the tree gang in a city council and we had the a "TJ" series Bedford as a water tanker. Plus we had a cab over TK Bedford, converted refuse truck as the wood chip vehicle as we had our own wood chipper.

The first vehicle I ever drove was my step granddad's TJ2 Bedford so I have a passing interest in the old Bedfords.

Kind Regards
Lionel

Hi Sorry for not posting photos,, now that I think what I am doing I'll try some general photos of the truck.

Now I know how to load a photo here's the hub.

Hi Richard Now I'm steaming along having worked out how to upload photos, please find some photos to help answer this question

Thoughts
 

Some thoughts

Maybe it arrived here during the British build up towards the end of the Pacific war. They had plans ready for major operations , maybe retaking Malaya and Australia was to be a launching off base , I know that RN aircraft carriers arrived in Sydney in 1945.

I think another OY was in Vic Drews yard , or one of the yards in Melbourne ?

Mike

Matt, I think that Richard had to raise the cab up an inch or two to fit the later Bedford engine in. You might need to check that if you are going to do a proper restoration. From memory, the bottom of the cab should be close to level with the bottom of the chassis member. Richard F. can confirm that for you.

Back in 1973 I worked for a steel company in Melbourne and one of the workmates had an OY 3 tonner as a furniture removal van in St.Kilda. It was painted red and we would use it mostly on weekends to move peoples furniture and belongings. Quite often it would be a midnight flit, but the money was good. Never asked any questions, but would wonder (haha!) why they would move house at 10:00pm on a Saturday night. I don't know what ever happened to that one, but that is the reason why I was interested in this one.

Regards Rick.

Matt,
As Rick appears to have the engine that came with the vehicle when he got it, I assume another engine is now fitted. If it is not a 28hp, then is a later 216? If so then there would be no reason to raise the cab. A few photos of engine would be good to see what it is.
Does not look like cab is lifted as it would not fit against front wings and bonnet. Would have to look at another to compare rear cab mounting.

regards, Richard

Hi All

This thread could possibly be split into two or renamed (don't know if you can do this). Originally I was after the differences between OYC and OYD's particularly in any chassis alterations, but we got on to the interesting (and still relevant topic) of Bedford OY's and how they go to Australia. I've made a contact or two re the Bedford OY I have and am happy to chase these up away from the forum, but I'd certainly be interested to see it continue to explore just how and why Bedford OY's ended up in Australia. Maybe Mike you'd like to put up the individual chassis no.s etc. that you had and we will see if the production dates of these vehicles can be tracked down, and then some explanations why there seem to be two distinct groups those in the OY5XXXX range and those in the OY7XXXX range, If I ever discover the chassis no. of mine, for sure,, I'll add it to this thread for you to debate. Refugee Cargo from Singapore was a good story, possibly, whilst it lasted, but it may not be correct, that's the joys of history.

Regards

Matt

Here is an AWM photo of an OY in the Dutch East Indies, probably never got off the dock, but who knows.

Attachment 82538

Oosthaven, Sumatra, Netherlands East Indies. 1942-02-17. View from the bridge of HMAS Burnie, berthed alongside the Oosthaven port facilities which were destroyed to deny their use by the Japanese. In the background smoke and dust rise from buildings whose walls and rooves were demolished. Beside the debris are trucks and other vehicles, including one tipped on its side. In the foreground are groups of local people lining the wharf and walking behind an approaching truck. Amongst the military are members of the Light Tank Squadron, 3rd Hussars, British Army. The unit had disembarked on 1942-02-14 at the port which faced the Sundra Strait on the southern tip of Sumatra. They were part of the force which was given the task of defending the area and covering the evacuation of the troops and civilians on 1942-02-17.

Regards Rick.

Bedford OY's in Australia - Batavia
 

interesting, this is about the time that the MV Empire Star passed through Batavia, and it is possible some vehicles could have been offloaded they certainly would have been useful, given that at that point the Japanese were only making exploratory advances not a full out assault so having trucks handy could have been useful.

Hi

Ok so mike gave me some idea of the Bedford OY's here. There were four Bedford OY (not OX's) prime movers in the Australian Army School of signals used as tractor units for Golden Arrow Mk2 Transmitter Trailers. The RAAF had two OY's as water tankers and the RAN had one as a Camp Lighting Plant i.e fitted with generators, light poles etc. for a tented camp.

Mike also gave me two chassis numbers these being OYD50995 (RAAF) and OYD21844 (RAN) however Mike did note that both services were not a diligent as the Army with vehicle data details.

So if people can identify the dates of these two chassis numbers that would be good, also if anybody has any more photos of OY's in Australia that would be great.

I do have some photos of RNZAF OX tractors pulling Queen Mary trailers, but I am not aware of any OY's across the Tasman despite them having a plethora of oddball English sourced vehicles there.

Hi Again

There is some info on the Golden Arrow here (see http://www.goldbeach.org.uk/yservice/Golden%20Arrow.htm ) the tractor units are certainly OX's , however I wonder that if this was sent out as a complete unit it also included the support vehicles for the 22 man crew. This may well be why some OY's came with it. Wonder what happened to these units after they left the military.